5 Powerful Artifacts in the New National Medal of Honor Museum

The new National Medal of Honor Museum is set to officially open to the public on March 25, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. Featuring virtual battlefields and high-definition introductions to the recipients of the nation's highest award for valor, the museum is certainly going to be a delight for military history enthusiasts. But Greg Waters, the museum's director of curatorial affairs, wants potential visitors to know that it's so much more than military history.

"We're really a biography museum," Waters told Military.com. "We're really interested in the intensely human stories. Yes, we will talk about service and the Medal of Honor actions, but we're also really interested in telling stories about these recipients. ... They get defined by this one moment in their lives, and rightfully so. Their Medal of Honor actions are incredible, but we want to expand that out just a little bit to take a wider look at their lives."

The museum faces the challenge of telling the stories of 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients, some dating back to the Civil War. There are few details about many early ones. Some don't even have photos. But where information is available and artifacts plentiful, Waters is excited to have larger exhibits. He and other staffers spent four years on what he called a "scavenger hunt" to gather artifacts for display in this uniquely dedicated museum. They were looking for both military items and artifacts with personal meaning.

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"We do have a handful of items from actual Medal of Honor actions. Those are always amazing to come across to be able to have on display in the museum," Waters said. "But we're interested in full life stories, so whenever we connect with Medal of Honor families and they share their family heirlooms, their family legacy, we hold onto it and protect it. It's a big responsibility."

Here are some of the most incredible artifacts Waters and his team have collected for the museum so far.

Jacob Parrott's Medal of Honor

A tradition and legacy like the Medal of Honor's has to start somewhere, and there could be no better starting point than that of Jacob Parrott, the first-ever Medal of Honor recipient.

In 1862, Pvt. Parrott and a handful of other volunteers raided Confederate railways. Their mission was to go deep into enemy territory and tear up the tracks and bridges between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tennessee. The result is now known as the Great Locomotive Chase. The Union raiders had a little bit of success but ran out of fuel around the Georgia state line and had to abandon their engine. They were all caught by rebel troops. Parrott was exchanged in 1863 and received the Medal of Honor for his daring.

"To have the very first medal awarded is huge for our museum," Waters said. "It'll be on loan for a few years from West Point, which is a thrill."

Webster Anderson's Prosthetic Arm

Then-Staff Sgt. Webster Anderson was with the 320th Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Infantry Division (Airmobile) in Tam Ky, South Vietnam. One early morning in 1967, his base was attacked by North Vietnamese regulars armed with machine guns, mortars, RPGs, rockets and recoilless rifles. In response, Anderson hopped on a howitzer and began using direct artillery fire against the attackers. When the NVA tried to overrun his guns, he was hit by two grenades that tore through his legs. Undeterred, he got back up, propped himself up and continued firing the gun. When an enemy grenade threatened his men, he picked it up and tried to throw it back, but it exploded as he threw it.

"He ends up losing one arm and both of his legs," Waters said. "And so in our collections, we have the prosthetic arm that he wore for years following his service just as a representation of what he lived through and who he was as a person."

Douglas Munro's Medal of Honor

There's only one Medal of Honor recipient in Coast Guard history, and that is Signalman First Class Douglas Munro. He volunteered to learn to become a coxswain, driving small boats to ferry U.S. Marines to and from shore during the upcoming island-hopping campaigns. Munro directed the landings of two LCTs and eight Higgins boats' worth of Marines into the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. When those Marines faced annihilation in an enemy counterattack, Munro sped to the site and used his boat and its .30-caliber weapon to cover and shield the Marines. He died in the act.

"We worked closely with the Coast Guard to get his Medal of Honor on display at the museum," Waters said. "The Coast Guard only has one recipient in its history so it's a huge honor to have it."

A Huey Helicopter Similar to Patrick Brady's

In January 1968, Patrick Henry Brady flew his UH-1H ambulance helicopter into a very small site, one blanketed by fog, smoke and small arms fire, in order to save some 51 wounded men -- but he couldn't do it in just one trip. Brady needed three different helicopters and multiple sorties over the course of a day to get all the American and South Vietnamese out of the landing zone, because the LZ was so hot, ground forces couldn't reach it and enemy fire (and even a land mine) damaged his airship.

"When I first started, my boss at the time said, 'Hey, I need a helicopter,'" Waters recalled. "I'm like, 'What do you mean?' He was determined to get us a helicopter, so now one of my favorite artifacts is a Huey helicopter that we restored and painted. It's fashioned after the same helicopter that Gen. Patrick Brady flew during his missions as a medevac helicopter pilot."

The Marine Corps' Notes to Kyle Carpenter's Family

In 2014, Cpl. Kyle Carpenter received the Medal of Honor for an act of selflessness not many recipients survive. In 2010, he was a lance corporal, positioned on a sandbagged rooftop in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. When the Taliban attacked, they came at the Marines with grenades, one of which landed in Carpenter's position. Carpenter immediately tried to shield his fellow Marines from the blast, taking most of the brunt of the damage. Somehow, he survived.

"Carpenter is the youngest living recipient," Waters said. "He jumped on a hand grenade to save fellow Marines on a rooftop and was in the hospital for 2½ years. From Kyle, we got some incredible artifacts. When he was in the hospital, his mom was his main caretaker and they have a kid's toothbrush. It was the softest one they could find to brush his teeth."

The museum also has the original voicemail the Corps left for Carpenter's family to inform them of the incident on the rooftop. In that same vein, the family donated their handwritten notes, scribbled as the Marine Corps told his parents about his injuries.

"It's about trying to help people understand that these were just incredibly normal people that did truly incredible things in this moment when they had to make a decision," Waters continued. "We can replicate that in our daily lives if we want to. Not to the extent that they did, but on maybe some small level, be a little more patriotic, be a little more courageous, whatever that means for the individual visitor."

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